Healthy Tips for Eating Out

With the holiday coming up and people traveling to different events, I thought this might help

Healthy Tips for Eating Out

1.     Probably the most important thing is to just choose food items that are mostly protein and/or vegetables. Most restaurants and servers will allow you to pick and choose certain items or sides with your entrée but realize there may be an up charge.

2.     You don’t have to take the bread. Many restaurants bring bread before the meal and you can ask them to not do that. Yes it taste good but you don’t need the cards.

3.     Stay away from the deep-fried items as the oil that they used to fry the food is probably hydrogenated and then reused many times. This would include french fries and many of the fried appetizers.

4.     Always have a salad. Most of the better restaurants have a salad with the entrée or have good salad choices as the entrée. This is a great way to get your vegetables and fiber and they taste good too. Just be careful of the sugar laden dressings. Try to use an oil and vinegar, or a vinaigrette, or even a blue cheese dressing. You can also ask them to not bring the croutons and don’t eat the crackers that come along.

5.     Try to find out what’s in the foods. There are becoming more and more organic restaurants that you have to worry about this a little less but many of the foods in your chain restaurants are laden with chemical preservatives that you don’t need. The most famous burger chains are notorious for this problem.

6.     Don’t drop the fruit wedges in your drink. Many times when you order water, tea, or other drinks, there is a fruit wedge that comes with it, you can squeeze out the pulp and juice but the peel probably had chemicals sprayed on them and you don’t want that in your drink.

7.     Try to relax and take your time eating. Some restaurants or in a big hurry to get you in and out so they can bring in the next patron. This is not good for digestion and your body needs to be in a restful state to digest correctly. Especially if you are eating a heavy protein like a steak or prime rib, you need to be calm so that your digestive system can work.